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History and characteristics of jazz singing

“Di-da-du-bi-bol-di-bi-la-daou…” – which may sound like nonsense to you at first, are the lyrics to one of the most famous vocal jazz pieces: “Heebie Jeebies”. Louis Armstrong recorded it in 1926, making him one of the first jazz singers to use the scat singing style. His songs, and those of many other jazz singers, have become famous for their emotional and unique character. Scat singing is just one facet of vocal jazz. What makes it so special? Read on to find out more about the history and characteristics of this style of singing.

The roots of jazz can be traced back to the end of the 19th century in North America. It evolved from several genres such as gospel, blues and ragtime, and was influenced by the tradition of marching brass bands, for example in New Orleans, a city that played a crucial role in the development of jazz.
But if we want to learn more about the meaning of jazz pieces, we have to go back even further in history: Gospel and blues evolved from work songs and spirituals sung by enslaved Africans during the transatlantic slave trade. Through these songs they could pass on their traditions and culture and communicate with each other secretly. They often deal with the themes of freedom and justice – human rights that were refused to them.
Freedom, equality and justice are also the main themes of many famous jazz songs, such as Strange Fruit, the famous Billie Holiday song. Today, jazz is one of the most famous musical genres, and many modern genres such as pop music are based on the achievements of jazz musicians. This revolutionary genre opened up a whole new world of musical possibilities – who knows what kind of music we would be listening to today without jazz?

Ella Fitzgerald – FotoshopTofs – https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/03/23/19/59/ella-fitzgerald-1275553_960_720.jpg

One of these famous jazz musicians who shaped the genre of jazz was Ella Fitzgerald. The “Queen of Jazz” was known for her enormous vocal range, the flexibility of her voice and her ability to imitate almost every instrument in an orchestra. There is more to singing than classical Western belcanto with its rigid rules – Ella Fitzgerald showed the other unique ways of using the voice to express emotion.
The ideals of Western opera singing, such as clarity of sound, do not play a big role in jazz singing – authenticity and expressing your emotions are considered more important. Another difference between these styles of singing is that in jazz, improvisation is practiced as a way of expressing musicality. In classical singing, on the other hand, you have to stick to the notes most of the time. Furthermore, depending on the jazz style, the harmony and rhythm can be very different from what you are used to in Western classical music, just think of the pentatonic scale or the swing rhythm! Last but not least, the language is a big difference: While most classical arias are written in Italian, French or German, English is the language of jazz. This is, of course, due to its North American roots.

Billie Holiday – FotoshopTofs – https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/03/26/20/39/billie-holiday-1281326_960_720.jpg

If you search the internet for the definition of jazz singing, you will find thousands of different answers. No wonder, when you compare the different sub-genres and styles of singing. But they all have some characteristics in common – here are some of them, plus some vocal styles and techniques:
The use of the voice in jazz includes all the sounds you can make with it. Growling, screaming, moaning, crying, speaking or humming; everything is allowed. You use not only your head and chest, but your whole body to create the sound. Because you treat your voice like an instrument in the way you create sound and play with a jazz band, jazz singers are often called vocalists. The voice in jazz is not the main instrument playing the melody to an instrumental accompaniment, but is equal to all the other instruments in the jazz band.
As well as the different sub-genres of jazz, you can also find different styles of jazz singing.
The example from the beginning, “Heebie Jeebies” by Louis Armstrong, uses scat singing. This is where you sing random syllables instead of lyrics, which makes improvisation much easier because you do not have to make up a meaningful lyric as you sing. Scat singing shows once again that getting the message across through music rather than language is an important aspect of jazz.
On the other hand, the vocalese style of singing includes lyrics that are often parodies. Unique to this style is using the voice to imitate instruments.

Jazz greats such as Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday also used some of the following techniques.
Firstly, dirty tones: these are tones that are intended to sound mistuned – they are used to express emotion and show authenticity. Blue notes are tones used in the blues scale. In Western musical notation it is not possible to measure them accurately. Blues musicians hit the notes using their musicality. Blue notes are responsible for creating the typical blues sound – a sound that people used only to Western classical music might find unfamiliar. Finally, there are slurs. If you know some of the musical terms used in Western classical music, you might call them glissandi – they create a smooth transition between two notes.

We have only scratched the surface of the diverse genre of jazz singing! There are so many more interesting aspects and great music to discover – the songs and jazz singers mentioned in this article are just the beginning of a great musical journey. What they all have in common is the intention to be authentic and unique. Expression and developing an identifiable personal style is more important than getting all the notes “right” – in jazz you are the one who defines what sounds “right”.
I hope that this article has helped you to get a first impression of this beautiful way of singing and has made you curious to learn more about it!

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